Women Have Made Progress in National Security Leadership Positions
But there's still a long way to go, Paula Broadwell, Deepti Choubey , and Laura Holgate write
Women's leadership in international security is moving from the sidelines to center court, but the bench is not deep enough, and too many women are taking themselves out of the game.
Recent headlines lead one to believe that we should award U.S. policies an A for inclusiveness, yet empirical evidence suggests we still have a way to go: Multiple studies on women in national security have illuminated concern about the progression of women into senior leadership positions. Many of the studies question whether women face either real or perceived barriers to reaching the highest ranks.
Indeed, women are playing an increasing role in international security—inspiring examples abound. In the military, Army General Ann Dunwoody became the first female four-star general in U.S. history; Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona was recently designated by President-elect Barack Obama to defend the homeland; in diplomacy, we applaud both Susan Rice, the second-youngest U.S. ambassador-designate to the United Nations, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, a historic presidential contender and current secretary of state-designate. These women follow in the footsteps of leaders such as presidential counterterrorism adviser Frances Townsend and Secretaries Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, who have exemplified the eloquent, formidable, and credible force that women can bring to the arena of international security. Could their careers foreshadow a tipping point for women's involvement in international security, or do we still have a hill to climb?
Problems remain. Women in International Security at the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University examined the status of women working in leadership positions in international security institutions, including the United Nations and key agencies of the U.S. Government. The study found that in the United States, as well as the international community at large, equal representation is not yet a reality. Women comprise over half of the U.S. population yet hold nowhere near that proportion of leadership positions in security sectors.
It is not that the pipeline supply is waning. Women presently make up 14 percent of the armed services but only 5 percent of active Army general officers. According to a 2007 report from the College of William and Mary, women are receiving political science degrees in record numbers (more than half of university students in international affairs-related programs are women), but female representation among political science faculty still lags—only 26 percent of the 13,000 political science professors in the United States today are women. There is an obvious disconnect between supply and demand.
The supply exists. For more than 20 years, Women in International Security has worked to promote this pool of talented women through inclusion and leadership in U.S. foreign policy, defense, and international peace and security arenas, by providing development, networking, and mentoring facilities. It is the only global network actively advancing women's leadership, at all stages of their careers, in the international peace and security field. With membership over 1,700 and 47 countries represented, the group this year developed a "Plum Book" of candidates from its network for consideration for federal sector positions in the new administration. This list promises to be an ongoing resource to identify qualified women.
Women's visibility matters, so something must change in the equation. Those maintaining low expectations for promotion to high levels will fail to aspire to elite positions and fail to work in a manner that would enable them to achieve such a goal.
What will have to change? In the government, as in the private sector, women and men aspiring to high levels of leadership undeniably have to make choices and sacrifices to get there. Yet as one general officer stated in a survey, "Perhaps some redefinition of gender preconceptions is in order. After all, what could be more feminine than to want to protect and defend what one cares about?" Furthermore, just as the 2006 U.S. National Security Strategy advocates for a policy of female inclusion efforts to counter conflict situations globally, we must galvanize our own policy process to change and live up to what we preach. Inclusion and diversity of view, at home and abroad, is an inherent aspect of achieving our national security objectives.
Complementary to this historic election, the diverse perspectives and leadership of women have been key themes in the dialogue on the future of America's domestic and international agendas. It behooves President-elect Obama's administration to tap into the pipelines of talented women to bring to America fresh ideas and new perspectives informed by a broad range of talent and views. Women need to play an increasing role in guiding ethical imperatives and a broader view of what prosperity, responsibility, and accountability really mean for our politics and our future. The nation is updating its conception of leadership, and we need our bureaucracies to reflect this reality to earn A ratings. Past complaints of tokenism or the difficulty of finding qualified women should remain in the past—there are no excuses now.
Paula D. Broadwell is an Army Reserve major and a research associate at Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership. Deepti Choubey is the deputy director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Both women are board members of Women in International Security. Laura S.H. Holgate is president of Women in International Security and vice president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
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Reader Comments
Note that it is military men who have the praises
I find it interesting that the men here who have made supportive statements are the men who have served with women in military--where if there was an issue of leadership skills it would emerge. As a Montana woman, I often hear the male ranchers note the great contribution that their wives make on the couple's ranch--very inclusive of woman and no hint of putting her in a secondary role. It is significant that Montana was the first state to send a woman to Congress, and that the suffragist movement was extremely active here. It is a myth that it is those conservative Republicans who don't want women in high positions. There are some barriers in business, but a basic principle exists in business, the military, and farming/ranching--if you are effective at what you do, we need you. In academia and government, the respect for effectiveness is diluted by seniority, political machinations. So the women will be more easily excluded from upper management. Look at many schools--how many male teachers are promoted into administration on a percentage basis of all male teachers vs the percentage of women promoted into administration. Yet these places are the bastions of liberal thought. Why would that be?--because if you believe that you are not in any way doing this bad thing by your value system, you look less closely at what actually happens. This is the great fallacy of the only party interested in women in politics is the Democrats. One can actually--if effective, what ever determines that, then one can advance. Are there biases? Yes, but individuals will over come them. If there are many women, the one making the decision can always say tomorrow--I'll promote the woman tomorrow and I'll promote the man today. If there is only a few women, then the fact they are being overlooked will be more obvious.
Women are There
Thank you CPT Park and MAJ Blake -- well said.
There is no room for quotas in the military today. Proven performance and potential are the keys. Women today (finally) have the opportunity for the same training and challenging assignments in most of the military. Women serve at every level and in most assignments. LT Huff and other women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, with their brother soldiers, were doing their jobs and doing them well. STG Hester and SPC Brown, both young women, both recipients of the Silver Star, are examples of outstanding, courageous performance of duty in combat.
The recent selection of GEN Dunwoody for her fourth star was not a "token" but the real life recognition of the truly exceptional performance of an outstanding soldier over many years.
It is also recognition of the fact that women have long since proven that with training and opporunity gender (like race) is does not have bearing on ability to do a job. It's a reflection of the US Army's willingness to select the best qualified individual regardless of once limiting artificial criteria.
As a former WAC I fought for training and assignments considered male only, including a tour in Vietnam. While we were limited in what we were allowed to do, we did all we could and then some.
I salute soldiers serving now, men and women. You are awesome.
WAC vet, COL USA Ret
Well Said, CPT(P) Park
As an active duty Army Major I can also attest to the many amazing feats that women accomplish every day. Women are subject to becoming wounded warriors, women serve in harm's way, and women put their lives on the line for our freedoms. Many women choose not to rise to higher ranking positions due to their decisions to support their husband or raise a family. Women are equally as capable, equally intelligent, and equally up to the same demanding tasks considered formerly only for men.
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